The present invention relates to a connector using a flexible printed circuit board for use in electric and electronic appliances such as flat-screen or thin-shaped plasma televisions, notebook personal computers and the like, and more particularly to a connector superior in dust-proofing.
Connectors used in mobile phones, charge coupled device (CCD) cameras and the like generally include conductors arranged in narrow pitches and are very thin (a so-called lighter, more compact). A connector of one type mainly comprises a housing and contacts, and a flexible printed circuit board is inserted into the housing to force the circuit board into contact with the contacts (a so-called non-zero-insertion force type). A connector of another type mainly comprises a housing, contacts, and a slider, and a flexible printed circuit board is embraced between the housing and a slider (a so-called zero-insertion-force type). Various methods can be considered for embracing the flexible printed circuit board by the housing and the slider. Among them, a construction has been used in many cases, in which after the flexible printed circuit board has been inserted into the housing, the slider is inserted to press the circuit board against the contacts. According to customer's specifications and in order to achieve narrow pitches, it is often required to arrange connection portions of the contacts on the side of a fitting opening of the housing.
The housing is provided with inserting holes for inserting a required number of contacts and with a fitting opening for inserting a flexible printed circuit board. The contacts each mainly comprise a contact portion adapted to contact a flexible printed circuit board, a connection portion to be connected to a substrate, and a fixed portion to be fixed to the housing. The contacts are fixed to the housing by means of press-fitting or the like.
As examples of the zero-insertion-force type, or a so-called rear locking type, incorporated herein are Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2003-297,489 (Patent Literature 1) and Japanese Patent Application Opened No. H11-307,198 (1999) (Patent Literature 2) and further Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2004-71,160 (Patent Literature 3) proposed by the applicant of the present application. Moreover, as examples of constructions for locking the flexible printed circuit board, incorporated herein are Japanese Utility Model Application Opened No. H6-82,783 (Patent Literature 4) and Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-422,258 (Patent Literature 5) proposed by the applicant of the present application.
Patent Literature 1
According to the Abstract of the Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2003-297,489, this invention has an object to provide a connector whose actuator can be operated by a slight force and which can achieve a reliable connection by enlarging movements of contacts by the actuator and further can achieve a reduced overall height of the connector. The actuator comprises cam portions, an actuating portion, and relief grooves therebetween, into which tip portions of spring portions of contacts can be detachably inserted. When the actuator is rotated about a fulcrum through 90° in the clockwise direction, the cam portions cause the spring portions and connecting spring portions of the contacts to be elastically deformed so that a flexible printed circuit board is embraced between protrusions of contact portions, with the result that patterns of the flexible printed circuit board are connected through terminals of the contacts to a printed substrate. An insulator includes a ceiling portion for covering the contact portions of the contacts, and a guiding portion below the ceiling portion on the forward side for inserting the flexible printed circuit board into the connector.
Patent Literature 2
According to the Abstract of the Japanese Patent Application Opened No. H11-307,198 (1999), this invention has an object to provide a connector for a printed circuit board, connecting a plurality of terminals and holding the flexible printed circuit board, which achieves improved operationality and holding performance. The connector includes a housing having an inserting groove for inserting a flexible printed circuit board or the like, a plurality of contacts arranged side by side so as to permit their contact portions to extend into and retract from the inserting groove, and an actuating member having a plurality of cam portions and being pivotally movable between a connecting position and a release position. When the actuating member is in the connecting position, operated portions of the contacts are urged by the cam portions to cause the contact portions to extend into the inserting groove so that the contact portions are pressed against terminals of the flexible printed circuit board or the like, thereby electrically connecting the terminals to the contacts. On the other hand, when the actuating member is in the release position, operated portions of some contacts are urged by the cam portions to cause the contact portions to slightly extend into the inserting groove so that the contact portions abut against the flexible printed circuit board to temporarily hold the circuit board, and the contact portions of the remaining contacts are caused to retract relative to the inserting groove.
Patent Literature 3
According to the Abstract of the Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2004-71,160, the invention has an object to provide a connector capable of securely pressing a flexible printed circuit board or flexible flat cable against contact portions of contacts by means of a slider without degrading strengths and specifications of respective components, and being superior in operationality, and achieving narrow pitches of conductors and reduced overall height. Disclosed is the connector whose contacts each comprise a contact portion, a connection portion, and an elastic portion and a fulcrum between the contact portion and the connection portion, and the contact portion, the elastic portion, the fulcrum and the connection portion are arranged substantially in the form of a crank. Moreover, the contacts are each provided with a pressure receiving portion extending from the elastic portion at a location facing to the connection portion. The slider is provided with urging portions arranged in a row side by side in its longitudinal direction and is installed on the housing so as to permit the urging portions to be pivotally moved between the connection portions and the pressure receiving portions of the contacts.
Patent Literature 4
According to the Abstract of the Japanese Utility Model Application Opened No. H6-82,783 (1994), this utility model has an object to provide a connector capable of easily anchoring a flexible flat cable by pawls of a slider even with the flexible flat cable having a rigid reinforcement plate attached to its rear face. Disclosed is a connector construction comprising a housing including contact pins therein and formed with a fitting space into which a flat cable is inserted, and a slider mounted on the housing such that the slider can be detachably inserted into the fitting space of the housing and is pivotally movable outside of the housing when the slider is removed from the fitting space, thereby bringing the flat cable into electrical contact with the contact pins by forcing the slider into the fitting space after the flat cable has been inserted into the fitting space, wherein the slider is provided on its flat cable abutting surface with anchoring protrusions adapted to be inserted in and anchored at anchoring portions formed in the flexible cables and formed in a reinforcement plate attached to the rear face of the flexible cable.
Patent Literature 5
In Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2003-422,258proposed by the applicant of the present application, disclosed as a construction for locking a flexible printed circuit board is a connector ensuring a required holding force for a flexible printed circuit board, even if the number of conductors is small, without causing any defective connection. According to this invention, the connector to be detachably fitted with a flexible printed circuit board includes a required number of contacts having a contact portion adapted to contact the flexible printed circuit board, and a housing holding and fixing the contacts therein and having a fitting opening into which the flexible printed circuit board is inserted, wherein the flexible printed circuit board is provided with anchoring portions and a locking member having engaging portions adapted to engage the anchoring portions is mounted on the housing so that the flexible printed circuit board is fixed so as not to be removed from the housing by causing the engaging portions of the locking member to be engaged with the anchoring portions of the printed circuit board, and a further reliable locking can be achieved by providing grooves in positions corresponding to the engaging portions.
Patent Literature 6
In the Abstract of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-307,793 proposed by the applicant of the present application in order to improve dust-proof property, disclosed is a connector with high dust-proofing capability and requiring little or no insertion force for a flexible printed circuit board. The connector includes a required number of contacts, a housing, and a pivoting member, wherein the contacts each comprise at least a contact portion, a connection portion, a fulcrum portion, a jointing portion and a pressure receiving portion, and are substantially H-shaped, and when urging portions of the pivoting member are pivotally moved between the connection portions and the pressure receiving portions to bring the contact portions into contact with a connecting object, and wherein the housing comprises a ceiling portion for covering the contact portions of the contacts and an upper wall for covering the pressure receiving portions of the contacts, and the pivoting member comprises an actuating portion, the urging portions, anchoring holes, and a cover portion which covers the tail portions of the contacts after the pivoting member has been pivoted.
Recently, on proceeding of miniaturization of electric and electronic appliances, the need for miniaturization of connectors has become stronger so that the connectors have increasingly become lighter and more compact. With such a progress of light weight and smaller geometry, connectors whose upper surfaces of contacts (particularly on tail side) are exposed have been widely used in order to obtain an operating space for a pivoting member such as an actuator, slider and the like. Depending upon uses or applications of the connectors, however, there is no need for miniaturization (reduced overall height), and therefore, the dust-proofing of the connector would be degraded by the exposed contacts, which may cause defective or failed electrical connection as the case may be.
Moreover, there is a need for a connector capable of inserting a flexible printed circuit board thereinto with a slight force which is as little as possible. Further, there is a requirement for enabling to visually ascertain whether a flexible printed circuit board has been completely fitted in the connector. Furthermore, sometimes connectors are used under bad circumstances such as dusty environment. According to our customer's specifications, a requirement has become stronger for improving dust-proof property than that of the Patent Literature 6 proposed by the applicant of the present application.